Farnborough Airport, which is owned by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, has its sights set on serving as a sustainability showcase for other airports.

Speaking on Tuesday 8 February, Simon Geere, Farnborough Airport’s CEO, said: “Sustainability is an area we are investing in heavily. We want to be leaders in terms of delivering sustainability credentials.”

Last year the airport introduced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its customers and despite limited stock and prices being around 50% more than Jet A-1, sales of SAF at the dedicated business aviation hub are slowly increasing.

Geere also noted that having been the first business aviation facility to achieve carbon neutrality in 2018, the airport continues to make environmental investments.

These include the electrification of ground power units and fleet vehicles, as well as a staff leasing scheme for electric vehicles. Investments are also being made in HVO renewable diesel for ground vehicles such as de-icing, firefighting and snow-clearing trucks.

In line with its mission to “put sustainability at the heart of everything” the airport will also continue to work closely with its business jet owner and operator partners, including NetJets, VistaJet and Flexjet, to help reduce their carbon footprint.

Geere also revealed the airport has agreed an MoU with UK-based Vertical Aerospace, which aims to bring the VX4 – a four-passenger, zero operational emissions eVTOL aircraft – into commercial service in 2024. This collaboration would see quieter, more efficient connectivity with central London.

And with work expected to start on a new 175,000 sq. ft hangar later this year, sustainability will also be integral to the build, which has been given a rating of “very good” by the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).

The £35m facility, which will offer four bays of temperature-controlled hangarage, is expected to be completed in 2024 and will almost double the existing hangar space.

Noting that the development of this new hangar reinforces Macquarie’s commitment, Geere said: “It really starts that cycle of investment again under new ownership.”

Home to around 56 based aircraft, Farnborough is consistently voted the number one FBO in Europe and Geere remains optimistic about the outlook through 2022.

“We remain 100% dedicated and tailored to the needs of the business aviation community,” he said. “We were built from the bottom up to support business aviation and that’s what makes us stand out from our competitors. We are also uniquely integrated [the FBO, fuelling and ground handling are all overseen by the airport operator], which means we can deliver the product we want to deliver and remain wholly responsible for the customer experience.”

Last year the airport saw 26,003 aircraft movements (in 2019 it recorded a total of 32,366 movements) with 90% of flights in and out of Farnborough now short-haul sectors within Europe.

Keep an eye out for our exclusive video interview with Farnborough Airport CEO, Simon Geere, in next week’s newsletter.

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